Imagining the Gaza Riviera and Other Follies

Netanyahu wins another one from an ignorant White House

The problem is that those folks who are looking nervously at what President Donald Trump is doing to reshape the Middle East to the benefit of Israel are not looking deeply enough into the US domestic policy changes that are also being promoted that will strip Americans of fundamental rights like freedom of speech or association in any situation in which Israel or Jewish groups are involved, even marginally. It is as if the United States is fully engaged in two major tasks simultaneously. The first consists of supporting Israel uncritically no matter what it does or how many civilians it seeks to kill without necessarily overtly endorsing all the policies embraced by the monstrous Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cutthroat colleagues. This is the way President Joe Biden ran things aided by his Zionist Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Biden feigned concern over the tens or possibly even hundreds of thousands of Palestinians being killed by Israel but he kept the flow of American bombs, money, and total political support in place even when he feebly warned and then failed to follow through on a threat that there would be consequences if Israel continued to blockade and starve the Gazans.

The second objective involves laboring to entrench and expand Jewish power in America is to create domestic political and media environment where criticism of Israel or of any Jewish groups will be criminalized, up to and including deporting individuals who are perceived as pro-Palestinian activists or, as Donald Trump has put it, “Jew haters.” The Attorney General and the hopefully soon to be abolished Department of Education are now coming down hard on universities who are perceived as not acting forcibly enough to protect Jewish students. This legal contrivance is accomplished in the time-honored fashion by equating opposition to Israeli and US government policies as “support of terrorism.”

The US media, heavily influenced by Jewish participants and money, is a major component in the “Israel First” racket through its slanted reporting of everything that takes place in the Middle East as well as its avoidance of any serious discussion of constitutional infringements that derive from the desire to protect Israel. One should note recent antisemitism legislation at both federal and state levels which defines criticism of Israel as ipso facto antisemitism and therefore a hate crime with civil and other penalties attached. And then there is Congress where legislator are terrified of offending the Israel Lobby and its Jewish billionaire backers lest they lose their sinecures, meaning that any bill supporting Israel will pass by overwhelming majorities no matter what damage it does to US interests and citizen rights.

Donald Trump has certainly added some wrinkles to the Biden status quo vis-à-vis the Jewish dominated state that he inherited, but he is clearly on the same page as his predecessor. He has talked “peace” while also releasing and sending new shipments of heavy 2000 pound bombs and other ordnance to Israel that can only be used to destroy more buildings occupied by Arabs. He is as much in the pocket of Benjamin Netanyahu backed by the US Israel Lobby and its billionaires as was Genocide Joe. And it is likely that Trump’s successor, whoever that might be, will be similarly constrained.

There is considerable discussion going on over the meaning of Trump’s proposal to have the United States assume “ownership” of Gaza, a process that will begin with the apparent Israeli assisted expulsion of the 1.7 million surviving Gazans, sending them to some unknown as yet recipient destination as refugees, the “cleaning up” of the bombed and ruined structures on the strip, and the development of a Riviera type luxury seaside community which, eventually, would be opened up to folks in “the area” which would mean Jewish Israelis as Palestinians would not be allowed to return to their former homes. Former property developer Trump enthused over how the project “…would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth.” The US would presumably pay for the multi-billion dollar redevelopment. Trump initially said that the security for the process would be provided by American soldiers and Marines, who would possibly be in place for a number of years, but he is now asserting through is press office that no US military would be needed.

How the US would actually arrange to “own” Gaza is unclear as the Gazans themselves will not be involved in the process, though Trump is now asserting that “The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” which would appear to imply that more fighting with Hamas is anticipated in spite of the ceasefire agreement. It also suggests that Donald Trump thinks the current “owner” of Gaza is Israel. Interestingly, Trump’s Zionist stepson Jared Kushner, himself a New York property developer, discussed the prospects for the development of a top resort with luxury Mediterranean Sea-view waterfront housing in Gaza over a year ago and he may have influenced his father-in-law’s current proposal. Also interestingly, when Trump unveiled his plan for Gaza he said that he had discussed the proposal with many colleagues inside and outside government and had received nothing but positive responses. The New York Times is instead reporting that Trump’s colleagues in his own administration had not been advised or briefed regarding what was coming and were shocked by the Gaza proposal when it was surfaced by the president.

I, of course, believe that the whole scheme is, as ever in post 9/11 US politics, an elaborate construct cloaked in deception to promote what are clearly seen as Israel’s interests as the US has nothing to gain from continuing to pump money and arms into a volatile Middle East. Trump’s top negotiator in the region Steve Witkoff met with Netanyahu in Washington on the day before the Israeli Prime Minister met with the president and I rather imagine that the entire proposal was discussed with him in detail and met with his approval. And the currently under siege West Bank also was also subsequently mentioned when, in response to a reporter’s question about a potential Israeli annexation of the area, Trump said that he would be making a decision on the issue soon. “People do like the idea, but we haven’t taken a position on it yet,” said Trump. “We’ll be making an announcement probably on that very specific topic over the next four weeks.”

Putting the possible redevelopment of a Gazan free Gaza together with an annexed West Bank means that one will have sooner rather than later a historic Palestine without Palestinians, which is precisely what Netanyahu and his cronies as well as the US Israel Lobby want. And this is a program that is bipartisan, given the fact that Joe Biden and Antony Blinken were both enablers and accomplices in the genocide conducted by Israel directed against the Gazans since October 2023. I believe that the Biden team in the Middle East, headed by an Israeli who had served in the Israeli Army, one Amos Hochstein, has been working methodically with Netanyahu to obtain total dominance over both Palestinians and its other neighbors. The US has, in the United Nations, vetoed 13 security council resolutions that would have imposed a ceasefire or negotiations to stop the carnage in Gaza. And witness what I have referred to as the false ceasefire in Lebanon, which went into effect on November 27^th. The US came up with a “whereas laced” US endorsed temporary peace formula for Lebanon that suited Bibi Netanyahu just fine. In fact, it suited him so well that he could not resist renewing his attacking the Lebanese immediately, even before the ink was dry on the ceasefire documents. Since that time Israel has maintained its troops in a so-called “buffer zone” in South Lebanon and has continued to kill Lebanese seeking to return to their homes. The ceasefire was nevertheless successful in taking the pressure off of Israel coming from Lebanese Hezbollah, and Israel used the opportunity to join in the multiparty invasion of Syria. It occupied more of the Golan Heights as part of the process and also took possession of Mount Hermon, all of which it still holds. It also staged a series of attacks on the Syrian Army, destroying arms stockpiles in the south and east of the country.

This was all accomplished with Biden Administration concurrence. Now, Trump is pretending that he is peacemaking but is handing Palestinian land over to Israel through a contrivance which will change the demographics of the region forever if successful. The Palestinians, thank God, are unwilling to be cooperative even if it means going back to a war footing with an Israel supported by the US. Nor will it be easy to find a nation or nations willing to accept 1.7 million homeless refugees from Gaza who will arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs followed by a million more Palestinians who will be cut loose after the West Bank is annexed.

While all this is playing out, we Americans have little to look forward to but some huge new bills to undo the damage done by Israel if the Gaza resort plan goes forward. And maybe there will be another war, this time with Iran. Trump has signed a presidential memorandum calling for a renewal “maximum pressure” against the Persians. Again, it is just what Benjamin Netanyahu wants, which is probably why he was smiling somewhat sardonically, or so it seemed, at the press conference with Trump following on his June 4^th visit to the White House. Why not? He had just proclaimed Trump the “best presidential friend Israel has ever had!” He knows he owns the building and its temporary occupants as well as the bigger building down the street where Congress resides, so why sweat the details?

Posted by Philip Giraldi on Feb 7 2025 . Filed under CNI Authors, Commentary & Analysis, Philip Giraldi . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.